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MITHRAIC KRONOS (AEON
OR ZERVAN AKARANA)
(Representing boundless
time.)
The statue here reproduced
was found in the mithraeum of Ostia before mentioned, where C. Valerius
Herackes and his sons dedicated it in the year 190 A.D. This leontocepalous
figure is entirely nude, the body being entwined six times by a serpent,
the head of which rests on the skull of the god. Four wings decorated with
the symbols of the seasons issue from the back. Each hand holds a key,
and the right in addition a long scepter, the symbol of authority. A thunderbolt
is engraved on the breast. On the base of the statue may be seen the hammer
and tongs of Vulcan, the cock and the pine-cone consecrated to AEsclapius
(or possibly to the Sun and to Attis), and the wand of Mercury...all characteristic
adjuncts of the Mithraic Saturn, and symbolizing the embodiment in him
of the powers of all the gods.
